100 people

[Norris]

http://www.miniature-earth.com/

I was very humbled after watching this. Kind of makes me question the point of complaining about trivial things like a 20c rise in fuel prices, trains arriving 5minutes late, or even that unwanted pickle slice in your cheeseburger.

BTW
<--- Oceania reprez'nt!

 

[Erk]

I dunno, I for one find that pity plea type movies like this reduce, rather than increase, the impact of the world's problems by overdramatising them. I spend more time thinking "What's with the silly pictures, and how is saying "nine people" different from saying 9% of the population?

I have always had a good head for numbers though, so perhaps it's just that when someone says "80% of the world is poor" I already know what they mean and don't need it reduced to a pithy movie. If this does help a few people get perspective on the fact that the first world is built entirely on the labour of the 3rd, then more power to it.

 

[catalyst]

I'm with Erk on this one. I already know the numbers, and they translate pretty easily in my mind. Plus, having smaller numbers ends up diminishing their impact to me. "15 people will ... whatever," just sounds really small. Tell me how much that is in comparison to the 2 billion people that are out there. 15% of the world is whatever, that's 300 million people. You know?

Most people who are good at raising awareness know which numbers to use and which ones not to use. Like, only 3% of people control over half of the country's wealth is a good comparison. In contrast, 75% live in poverty. Big number, compared to 100. Sure, a lot. But I've already got that idea in my head. However, add to that: That's 1.5 billion people.

Most people already know the percentages, and have seen some of the people. But it's hard to take into account just how many people there are in this world. When you want to make a big impact, don't reduce the numbers, use the biggest ones available for the people you want to draw attention to, and use the small numbers and percentages for those you want to take attention away from, or make a severe point of just how few people there are.

Hmm... didn't really mean to critique it, but I do think that by reducing the numbers, this little tidbit took away somewhat how bad the crisis really is.

 

[Norris]

Really? I personally thought the cutting down of numbers to more ‘tangible’ figures actually gave a better and reasonably more accurate impression of the true state of the world.

100 million people you say… gee that’s a pretty high number
vs.
1 in 100 people eh? So that means at least 1 person in my neighbourhood alone suffers from AIDS

I found it much easier to relate with smaller figures than with the astronomical. I guess each to his own then *shrugs*.

 

[Deliciously_Saucy]

Aids? Fuck those queers. THEY DESERVE TO FUCKING DIE.

 

[catalyst]

1 in 8 women will get raped, too. Yes, of your mother, grandmother, possibly sister, and 5 other girls or women you know, one has been or will be raped sometime in her life. But it doesn't seem as major as in that little world, where 6-7 women would have been, or will be raped. And 1 in 100 just doesn't seem like a big number to me, for some reason. That might also be because I know other stats, like of the 50 women there (supposing grown women), 10 will probably become pregnant that year, and 2-3 will have a miscarriage. At least one other pregnancy will result in premature birth. And it takes out the stats of higher numbers, like how as many as 14 of 10,000 children have some form of autism. How can you translate that in a world of only 100 people? But 2.8 million children with autism...

Btw, 1 in 100 is 200 million people.

I dunno. Maybe it goes back to that RPG debate of big numbers vs small numbers. Some people prefer being able to do up to 9999 points of damage or more, and some like the big impact that a single point of damage can have when you only have 15 hit points to begin with.

 

[Lene]

I dunno. Maybe it goes back to that RPG debate of big numbers vs small numbers. Some people prefer being able to do up to 9999 points of damage or more, and some like the big impact that a single point of damage can have when you only have 15 hit points to begin with.

That is a brilliant way to put it, catalyst. Personally unless the numbers are really really huge, making the numbers smaller brings it close to home. Imagine if you lived in a place with 100 people...you'd want to help out your neighbors, you know?

Yes, I am a huge dork. :#

 

[catalyst]

The problem with thinking about that, is I'm one of 20 people in that neighborhood who doesn't have enough money to help the rest of them, and even in my neighborhood of 20 in real life, I know maybe five, am trusted by one or two, maybe three at max, and shunned or bullied by all the rest. Thinking about the world in those terms brings to me the reality that I'm shunned or looked down upon by most of society, am too poor to help the people "below" me, and am not even known by the people "above" me. And my pithy network of 100 people that I do know today means absolutely nothing.

I think one of the problems is that I have a tendency to look at the whole picture, no matter the point. In larger numbers, I can look at all my friends and family and feel like I have something. Reducing everything to only 100 people, it doesn't make me feel grateful, it makes me feel useless.